Thousands join Muslim prayer protests over Jerusalem shrine

Thousands of Palestinian Muslims have prayed in the streets near Jerusalem’s most contested holy site, heeding a call by clergy to not enter the shrine despite Israel removing metal detectors it installed there a week earlier.

Muslim leaders said they would only call off the protests once they made sure Israel had restored the situation to what it was before the latest crisis.

Some Muslim officials alleged that Israel used the absence of Muslim clerics from the walled compound in the past week of protests to install new security cameras.

Masked militants from the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, a military wing of Hamas, march in Gaza during a parade against Israeli arrangements in a contested Jerusalem shrine (Adel Hana/AP)

The continued stand-off highlighted the deep distrust between Israel and the Palestinians when it comes to the shrine – the third-holiest in Islam and the most sacred in Judaism.

The 37-acre esplanade, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, has been a lightning rod for rival religious and national narratives of the two sides.

It has triggered major confrontations in the past.

Palestinian women pray at the Lion's Gate (Oded Balilty/AP)

Israel seemed eager to put the crisis behind it and restore calm after a week of prayer protests, street clashes and several incidents of deadly violence.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government also faced a growing backlash at home for what critics said was hasty decision-making and embarrassing policy zigzags.

In a face-saving compromise, Israel’s security cabinet announced that in place of the metal detectors, it would employ non-intrusive “advanced technologies”, reportedly smart cameras that can detect hidden objects.

The new security system is to be set up in the next six months at a cost of 28 million dollars (£21 million).

Meanwhile, Palestinian politicians and Muslim clerics demanded that Israel restore the situation at the shrine in Jerusalem’s Old City to what it was before July 14.

On that day, three Arab gunmen opened fire from the shrine at Israeli police guards, killing two before being shot dead.

Al Aqsa Mosque

In response, Israel closed the shrine for two days for weapons searches and installed the metal detectors.

The decision quickly triggered Muslim protests amid allegations that Israel was trying to expand its control at the site under the guise of security – a claim Israel has denied.

On Tuesday, hours after Israel removed the metal detectors, Muslim leaders said a technical committee would check the area in and around the compound carefully to see if Israel had made any unilateral changes during the time the shrine stood empty.

Protests would continue until the check was completed, they said.

By Tuesday evening, thousands of worshippers prayed at the Old City’s Lion’s Gate, one of the main flashpoints in recent days.

They knelt on prayer rugs arranged in neat rows on the floor as Israeli riot police lined up nearby.